Francis jarvis patten



(No Model.)

F. J. PATTEN.

ELEGTRIG FURNAGE.

No. 577,317. Patented Feb. 16,1897.

WITNESSES:

a, 0 g; W

UNiTnn' STATES .Pinrerr'r Quince.

FRANCIS JARVIS PATTEN, OF NEW YORK, hT. Y.

ELECTREC FURNACE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of iretters Patent No. 577,317,- dated February 16, 1897. Application filed September l6, l898- Serial No. 5,869, (Ho model.)

To all whom. it 11mg mmv'eru:

Be it known that I, FRANCIS JARVIS PAT- TEN, a citizen of the United .Stat'cs, residing at New York, in the county and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electric Furnaces, Of,. l\'lll0ll the following is a clear description.

My invention relates to that class of furnaces for making calcium, carbid in which a pencil of carbon or a number of them are brought to a fusion heat by passing a heavy electric current through them. It is not Inaterially dili'ci'ent in its essential features from other furnaces of the same general type, my improvement consisting mainly inameans of extending the operativeness of the furnace audenlarging its output. It will be understood from the accompanying drawings, in which- Figures 1 and 2 represent the furnacein vertical and horizontal section, the latter showing more particularly the peculiar system of electrical connections used by which the desired result is attained, whichis to keep a number of carbon pencils in a furnace I continuously active without maintaining a volume of current-flow suiiicient to beat them all to iuca'ndescencc simultaneously.

In both figures acircularfurnaceis shown, in the interior space of which a number of carbon pencils I" to P are arranged at a suitable distance from each other in a circle. In thevertical section, Fig. 1, only two diametrically opposite pencils are shown, I and P, the others being omitted to avoid confusion of the drawin s. The pencils are ofcomparatively small diameter or cross scction, such in fact as to admit their being heated to in candescence by a current of from two hundred tosix hundred amperes, aceordin g to the size and desired output of the furnace. The space between them, on the other hand, is determined chiefly by the distance around its axis to which the heating action of the incandescent carbon pencil extends, the idea being to make the action as nearly continuous as possible throughout the mass, the space S S around and between the pencils being filled with theinixture to be fused encept at the central portion, which is filled with a carbon core K,-Figs. 1 and 2, the sole purpose of. which is to. occupy the central space or core separate or insulated from each other.

of the furnace where the mixture would be little, if any, attacked by the heat of the surrounding pencils. The central core K, as represented, simply occupies a dead space in the center of the furnace. It mayor may not be connicted to the positive pole of the dynamo like the others through an additional plate in an independent circuit to the liquid commutator. As the central core K is shown permanently connected to the negative pole of the dynamo, some current will always pass between it and that particular pencil of the surrounding group which is temporarily connected to the positive pole of the dynamo through the liquid commutator, which isequally true of all. the others when temporarily out out of direct circuit by the commutator. Y The whole is incasied in the usual'way in a surrounding wall of brickwork B B.

'The pencils P P are held in position at the 1 ends of the carbon pencils are eac connected independcntlyand in rotation to the other terminal by the electric device shown in Fig.

by reason of the fact that it serves toswitch- -,the current, however great its volume, from one pencil to the next in rapid rotation without breaking the current or forming any are whatever. In this feature as adapted to elec tric furnaces lies the chief merit of this in vention.

I By taking comment of a given volume, say three hundred ampercs at fifty to one hundred volts, and passing it in quick succession through a number of carbon resistances they 2, which is peculiarly adapted to this purpose can each in a comparatively short time be brought to incandescence', and a very much larger mass otmatcrial can be simultaneously. attacked by the temperature of incandescence than if the current were sent through one pencil or a small number. Thus; I am en-T abled to construct on these lines a furnace of considerably enlarged output; The operativeness of such a system of course depends upon thenseoi my peculiar switehin device or commutator, which transfers the eav'iest currents gradually from one carbon pencil to the other without interrupting or breaking,

the continuous or steady ilow of current in any way. No device that broke or interrup ted such heavy currents would serve the purpose, by reason of the intense arcing and flaming at the switches or commutator-5mg. ments and brushes that would" necessarily take'place. I accomplish this result by using what I terma liquid. or bath commutator which I invented many years 'ago and which serves the purpose admirably where the object is to throw heavyelectriccurrents rapidly from one circuit to another. The device will be understood from Fig. 2, where the different parts are shown.

arm centrally swung at the axis of the tub, i

beingbalanced by a coun'terpoise or weightW, and'a motorM,by a belt or otherwise, is caused to drive the arm carrying the movable slab S at a suitable rate. 011 the spindle of the arm is fixed a conducting-ring or slidin con tact, on which a brush Ilbears, which atter is connected to the other dynamo-terminal or opposite the one to which the lower furnace terminal or carbon slab is connected, as shown urns-1r by the circuits in Fig. 2. The rin on the also connected to the slab S", which revolves, and is thus brought successively into. close proximity-to theseveral slabs S S to S in turn giving the current to each of theeight carbon pencils In rotation wftheut-"any'rnpture of current or of circuit.

Having thus described myinvention, what 'I claiii'and desire to secure-by Letters Patent, is the following:

1. In an electric furnace two or more carbon pencils connected through independent electric circuits to a source of electric cur rent said circuits including a liquid comma tator whereby the pencils can be given current singly and in groups successively in. rotation. 1

2. lnan electric furnace two or, more car: bon pencils connected through independent of electric current whereby the pencils can be given current in rotation without rupture FRANCIS JARVIS PAITTEN.

Witnesses:

A. PRESTON Coornn,

A. LEONARD HALL.

arm or spindle upon which the brush 1- bears is circuits and a liq'uid commutatorto a source diife'ierit electrodes substantially as de-' 

